In 1920s North Carolina young Rufus leaves his family knowing nobody will miss him. He carries haunting secrets buried deep in his memory. When he falls in with the O’Haras he believes he found a home. He learns to make white lightening and prospers in selling it. Running moonshine leads him to dark places where he encounters rough culprits. A scheme gone wrong lands him in prison where he confronts the demons in his past.

Fifteen year-old Jolene O'Hara witnesses her mother killed in a feud. She must then fend for her younger brothers by herself. To survive she delves into the whiskey trade, turning heat up on the feud. From the illegal liquor boom of Prohibition she rakes in a fortune. With her charismatic ways she dares to wear men’s clothes and wield a Smith and Wesson. She attracts admirers, both male and female. The arrival of the Great Depression sends Jolene on a downward spiral. She suffers the loss of her business and people close to her.

Now out of prison Rufus gets what he longed for, he’s the only person Jolene can turn to. The looming feud added to her heavy drinking puts their relationship on a track to disaster.